Electroplating apparatus.



L. POTTHGFF.

ELECTROPLATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION HLED DEC. 14, 19l6.

1,251,568, Patented Jan. 1, 1918 a F, a 7' lllil PATIENT @FFEGE.

LOUIS POTTHGFF, OF FLUSHING, NEW YORK.

ELECTROPLATING- APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

fittented Jan. 1, 1918.

Application filed December 14, 1916. Serial No. 136,289.

To (ZZZ whom concern:

Be it known l, Lonrs Porrnorr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Flushing, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electroplating. Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to electroplating apparatus and particularly to electroplating apparatus wherein a rotatable barrel supports the articles to be plated in the electrolyte.

An object of the invention is to provide a separable barrel which may be readily dismounted and removed from the electrolyte,

and then opened to allow access to the entire interior. in plating quantities of small articles in barrels as heretofore constructed, some become lodged in the meshes of the barrel and do not discharge with the others. lhis is particularly objectionable where the same barrel is used for difierent articles which must be kept separate for future op;- erations, since if the first lots become mixed with the later lots they have to be separated by hand, or jam in machines, or otherwise cause complications which can only be avoided by complete sorting over. To avoid this waste and confusion, the plating barrel of this invention is separably formed in two parts which may be removed from the electrolyte and separated to completely remove all of the articles.

A further object of the invention is to provide the tank with bearings and driving means especially adapted for a removable barrel, and with means for rotating the barrel while in the solution. The bearings are formed to permit the ready removal of the basket in a. direction to disengage it from the rotating means so that the barrel may be positioned in and removed from the electrolyte quickly and easily and without preliminary releasing of fastenings or interrupting the operation of the rotating means. By this arrangement a series of barrels in one tank require only a single driving means and any barrel can be inserted or removed without stopping the drive or otherwise interfering with the operation of the other barrels.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View of an apparatus embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional viewof the barrel taken on line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig.4 is a partial sectional View of the barrel on line of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section of a modifiyd form, and r Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 5.

In the embodiment shown, 1 is a tank provided with brackets 2 supporting side beams 3 carrying bearings 4t and 5 for the shafts 6 of the electroplating barrels 7 containing the articles to be plated. Each barrel 7 is composed ,of two parts or halves similarly formed and comprising opposite head pieces 8 and it united by the cross bars 10 and 11 and forming frames, to the inside of which,

perforated sheets 13 are fastened to inclose the periphery. In the assembled position of the barrel sections, cross bars 10 lie in engagement with each other and are held by sliding U-shaped clamps 14c engaging with taper portions of said bars.

The barrel supports the articles to be plated in contactv with the ends of the oath ode arms 16. To keep the articles constantly the teeth 24. The driving chain 23 runs over sprockets 26, 27, carried by brackets 28. 2S), and is placed beyond the end of the barrel so as not to interfere with its movements. Sprocket 27 is mounted on shaft 30 to the other end of which is fastened the driving wheel 31.

Two half bushings 15 at each end of the .barrel are carried bv the heads Sand 9 and form bearings for the shaft 6 carrying the curved cathode arms 16 and having the ends 17 for supporting the barrel in the eloo trolyte. The-ends 17 of the shafts are flattened as shown and bearings 4 and'5 are formed to receive the ends and hold the shaft against rotation. Bearing 4 has socket 18 open at the top to receive one end of the shaft and bearing 5 has slot 19 to receive the other. Back wall 20 of socket 167 and shoulder 21 of slot 19 retain the shaft 17 against endwise movement.

The ends of bearings 4 and 5 are extended to form lips 32 and 33 supporting the conductors 34 and 35 for the current received through shaft 6 from the cathode arms. Immersed in the electrolyte are anode plates 36 on shafts 37 held in brackets 38 on the sides of the tank.

In the modification illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, the arms 16 are dispensed with and the cathode contact is made by rings 45 formed by flan es on plates 46 positioned Within each head 8 and 9 and provided with central bushings 47 forming bearing surfaces for shaft 6. Collars 48 are provided to retain the barrel against longitudinal movement on the shaft. This type of cathode contact is particularly adapted for the plating of long articles, such as strips of metal, corset stays, etc. As illustrated at 49 in Fig. 6, the articlejrests with each of its ends in contact with cathode plates 46 or their flanges 45 and this contact is continuous as the barrel rotates in the solution.

In using apparatus of this invention the halves of the barrel are separated, the articles placed therein, the halves reassembled and clamped together on the cathode shaft 6. The barrel is then placed in position in the tank by slipping the flattened ends 17 of the shaft 6 into bearings 4 and 5, as shown in Fig. 2, bringing pins 24 on heads 8 into the path of pins 22 on the chain 23. The lower portions of the barrel dip into the electrolyte, the upper level of which is below bearings 4 and 5. The barrel is rotated by movement of chain 23 and the articles are kept constantly stirred in contact with the cathode arm 16 and the current entering through the anodes 36 passes through the solution to the articles and thence to cathode arm 16 and through shaft 6 to bearings 4 and 5 and conductors 34 and 35. When the articles are plated and it is desired to disengage the driving means, the left end, Fig. 2, of the barrel is raised slightly so that the end 17 and the shaft 6 will clear the shoulder 21 of the bearing 5. The barrel can then be shifted bodily to the left .sufiiciently to move teeth 24 out of the path of pins 22. The whole barrel can then e bodily removed to have its parts separated for the complete removal of the plated articles. i

By this invention there is provided a simple and inexpensive apparatus whereby various lots of small articles can be plated without danger of their. intermixture. A

number of. barrels constructed according to this invention can be placed in one tank with a single driving means.

The two sections of the barrel are preferably formed of non-conducting material, such as glass, porcelain, celluloid, or bakelite, which is non-absorbent and impervious to the action of the electrolyte. It is obvious that the bearings may be supported directly on the sides of the tank and that other means may be used to rotate the barrels. The invention is not confined to the particular embodiment herein described, but it is intended to include therein such modifications thereof as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I declare that What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an electroplating apparatus, a tank for the electrolyte, a tumbling barrel for the articles to be plated, a rod for said barrel, pins carried by said barrel, driving means comprising a movable chain engaging said pins, and stationary means on said tank supporting said barrel and permitting endwise movement of said rod to disengage said driving means.

2. In an electroplating apparatus, a rotatable barrel comprising separable members, pins carried by said members for rotating said barrel, a rod supporting said barrel and carrying cathode arms, a chain engaging said pins, and stationary bearings holding said rod against rotation and permitting endwise movement of the barrel to disengage said pins from said chain.

3. In an electroplating apparatus, a tank for theelectrolyte, a series of barrels for the articles to be plated, each barrel comprising separable halves .apted to be assembled to form a container, clamping means for clamping said halves in assembled position, cathode rods carrying said barrels, means for driving said barrels comprising a chain having projecting pins engaging the pins on said barrels, and means supporting said rods and barrels comprising a series 0t socket bearings for one end of each of said rods and bearings for the other end of each I of said rods having shouldered slots holding said rods against endwise movement in lowermost position and permitting said rods to be lifted and moved endwise to disengage the driving means while still supporting the I barrel.

4. An electroplating barrel comprising separable members forming a container, releasable clamping means for locking said members together, and a cathode rod held between said members and having projecting ends to serve as supports for said barrel.

5. An electroplating barrel comprising separable members holding a cathode rod between them, and releasable clamping :Zneans locking said members and rod together.

6. An electroplating barrel comprising separable members forming a substantially cylindrical container, a cathode rod carried between said members and extended to form supports for said barrel, cathode arms carried by said rod, and releasable clamping means for locking said members together.

7. In an electroplating barrel comprising separable members having opposite heads, cathode plates in said heads having peripheral flanges and central bushings, and a supporting shaft for said barrel having bearings in said bushings.

8. In an electroplating barrel for plating elongated articles, the combination with heads and peripheral body portion of nonconducting material adapted to be opened to receive said articles to be plated, of cathode tracks spaced apart a distance less than the length of the articles to be plated and continuous around the entire periphery of the barrel, and means for rotating said barrel to move thearticles along said tracks.

9. An electroplating barrel comprising separable halves adapted to be assembled to form a containenclamping means for locking said halves in assembled position, a plurality of peripheral cathode tracks of conducting material continuous Within the periphery of the barrel in assembled position, supporting the articles to be plated and rotating with the barrel to vary the points of contact between the articles and the tracks, and means for conducting the current from said tracks comprising a cathode rod held between said separable barrel halves.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LOUIS POTTHOFF. 

